FicWad

Something Borrowed

One week before the wedding

"Lee! Lee, Lee, Lee!" The panicked shouting reached him long before the speaker did. So did the glares of the twenty other students studying in that particular wing of the library. Lee glared right back; he was not the one shouting.



The real culprit appeared seconds later, looking flustered and as panicked as he sounded, bounding between the rows at near-breakneck speed. Lee sighed, for once cursing his tendency to take the same table whenever he came to the library. It just made him too damned easy to find. Normally that was not a problem, but from the look on his roommate's face... God only knew what he was in for.



"Lee..." Zac came to halt, out of breath and looking as though he had just completed a marathon. "Lee."



"Yes, I believe we've established my name, now." He pinched the bridge of his nose and prayed for patience. "The whole damned library caught that part. Would you like to try finishing the thought?"



Zac did his best to glare at him as he continued sucking in air. It did not convey well; Zac just was not possessed of an angry disposition. "Just... give me a second... to catch... my breath..."



"Of course. Sorry to distract you."



Zac grinned. "You're... an ass..."



"I do my best under the circumstances."



"Ok," Zac slammed a hand down on the surface of the table as he slid into a chair across from Lee, signaling his readiness to begin-and also earning them more glares from those around them, "I need to borrow you for the weekend."



"Borrow me."



"Yeah."



"You might want to expound on this a little. I'm not quite following."



"Well um... my cousin is getting married this weekend, and obviously she's family, so I have to go. Not that I mind going or anything. Vanessa's awesome, and that guy she's attaching the ball and chain to isn't so bad either." He paused to suck in air, casting a fleeting look at Lee before flicking his gaze to Lee's open notebook. "But um... It's sort of... I kind of..." Zac folded his hands together, shifted around in his seat, and made a great show of studying something Lee had written down. "I, ah..."



Strange as it was to see his brazen roommate so obviously nervous, the stalling and sputtering were still annoying. And it wasn't getting him anywhere closer to finishing his assignment. "Spit it out, Zac."



Zac seemed to start at his abrupt tone, but he did manage to meet Lee's eyes and speak a coherent sentence. "I need a date."



Lee was floored. All Zac's random stunts and antics and exhibitions this semester, and this was the one the thing that did him in. Lee stared and blinked at his roommate, mouth opening and closing on words he couldn't yet find the voice to speak. He eventually managed a choked, "I'm sorry?"



"I need a... d-date." Zac was back to not looking at him, and Lee noted a faint tinge to his cheeks.



/Oh, god/. Lee buried his face in his hands. "Zac... you're not acting on another stupid dare are you?" Because those stupid fraternity brothers Zac liked to hang out with had already tried twice before to 'lure him out of the closet'.



"This has nothing to do with them." Zac shook his head adamantly. "I'm dead serious on this. Please. You have to help me."



"Point in fact, I don't."



Zac leaned forward in his chair again, hands separating to lie flat on the surface of the desk. "/Please/, Lee."



"Why can't you go alone?"



"Because I said I was bringing a date?"



"Knowing you didn't already, actually have one."



"Yeah."



"Zac. Do you ever think before you act?" It was astounding, how someone so smart could appear so stupid so frequently.



"I didn't mean to!" Several angry 'shh's followed the outburst. Zac ignored it, but he did lower his voice when next he spoke. "My mom kinda caught me off guard. I mean... I'd completely forgotten about it."



"About what? The wedding?"



"N-No..." Zac started shifting in his chair and looking nervous again, "I umm..." Zac scratched at his head and made it a point not to look Lee in the eye, "I... might have told them I was dating someone with... your name." He looked up then, smiling sheepishly.



"Why would you have given them my name?"



"It was the name I gave my ex-girlfriend back at the beginning of the semester. Remember? She kept calling me?" Lee nodded. He remembered those damned phone calls. They'd usually come about the time he was sleeping. According to Zac, she had some weird belief that she and Zac were cosmically entwined and meant always to be together. Zac had other ideas. That sort of involved him? Lee shook his head; his roommate was confusing.



"I wanted to get her off my back and to stop calling, so I told her I was seeing someone else. It was around the same time all the guys on the floor were still hassling you about your name-shouting it around the halls and stuff-so it was the first one that came to mind when she demanded to know who." Zac gave him another sheepish smile, "I guess she told the family... And anyway, Mom called just now to confirm the flight and hotel, and she asked if I would be bringing 'you' with me." Zac glanced at him briefly then turned to stare at Lee's notebook again. "And I uh... said yes before I really thought about it."



"Zac..." Lee closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, trying to remain calm.



"I'm sorry, ok. I panicked. But please. If I don't have a date, Sarah will finally think she's won. And then I'll probably die of asphyxiation when she refuses to let go of me. And I don't know any other-" Lee shot him a look of warning; Zac cleared his throat, "That is, anyone else with your name."



"You honestly expect me to buy that?"



"Hard to believe, isn't it? What with all the chicks running around this campus?" Zac grinned, the boyish one that brought his dimples out, his nervousness seeming forgotten. He leaned forward again, grey eyes intent. "Two days Lee. You won't even have to do anything. Except, y'know, stand near me and umm..." Zac flushed and ducked his head again, his moment of confidence gone.



Lee rolled his eyes and forced back a frustrated sigh. "Zac, I think I know how I'd be expected to act. I have dated before."



Zac shook his head, voice disparate. "You have no idea what's expected..."



"Then why don't you explain it to me."



"It's kinda... personal." Zac was doing a good job of avoiding eye contact, and it was starting to irritate Lee.



"Zac. Pretending to be someone's boyfriend is rather personal. Now look at me and tell me what I have to do."



Zac's head snapped up, relief evident in his wide eyes. "You'll do it? Oh thank god." He dropped his head again, hands clasping together as he muttered a string of 'thank you's.



"I'm not doing anything until you tell me what I have to do."



Zac took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, digging nervously through the numerous pockets of his pants. When he had found what he was looking for, he sat forward again, setting his hand palm up to reveal a small white gold band in the center of it. The flush was back in his cheeks, and he only barely managed to meet Lee's eyes. "I need you to wear this."



Lee felt truly angry for the first time since Zac had come running in here. "You told her we were engaged?!"



Zac's eyes went wide, the tinge in his cheeks turning redder, and he shot forward across the table clamping a hand over Lee's mouth. "Would you shut up?" He cast a meaningful look at the now interested stares of the people around them. "I did nothing of the sort, ok," he hissed, pulling his hand away and sitting back down. "I know I have a big mouth, but give me some damn credit... Jeez." He raked a hand through his hair and slumped forward, left hand fisting around the ring.



Lee crossed his arms and leaned back, annoyance and impatience written clearly on his face. "Perhaps you'd like to expound upon this, too?



"It's a tradition in my family." Zac opened his fisted had, holding the ring between his thumb and forefinger. The way he held it, Lee could just make out the small diamonds, evenly spaced, running along the center of the band. "We always present the one we're..." Zac bit his lip and cast a nervous glance at Lee, "dating a ring. It won't matter how you act or what you say; if you aren't wearing a ring, they won't believe it."



"That's it." Lee could not believe it was that simple.



"Yeah." Zac nodded, serious now the explanation was over. "You don't have to so much as hold my hand. Just put this on, and it'll all work out."



Lee shook his head, reaching out to pluck the ring from Zac's grasp. "That wasn't quite what I meant. You just made it seem so dire." Hell, the way Zac had been twitching and stuttering, it seemed better explained that his roommate had told his ex-girlfriend he was engaged. He let the ring rest in the palm of his hand, examining it, testing its weight. "Whose ring is this?"



"It's mine. My grandmother gave it to me as a birthday present." Zac gave him a crooked half-smile. "She's eccentric enough to think everyone needs diamonds of some sort. I don't really wear it a lot, but it's kinda precious to me." He shrugged. "And everyone knows it's mine."



Lee nodded, understanding. "So no one really will have cause to question you." He stared at Zac pointedly. "Or me."



"Yeah."



"Ok," Lee slid the ring onto the ring finger of his right hand and looked up to meet startled grey eyes, "You've got yourself a date for the weekend. But you can fill me in on all the relevant details later; now I've really got to finish this assignment." If he was leaving campus for the weekend, he had a lot to get done before Friday.



--/--

At the reception

"Your family had no idea I was a guy, did they?"



Zac started from where he had been staring intently at a small stand of trees, behind which he could hear his mother speaking in hushed tones. He did not know what bothered him more really-that she felt the need to whisper at all, or that he could not hear what she was whispering about. Probably him, more specifically Lee. He glanced up at Lee then turned to stare down at his feet. "No... they didn't."



And hadn't that just made for a great reception at the hotel. Zac clenched his fists at his sides and fought back the anger. It would not fix anything now, anyway. He shook his head. Surprise he could understand. Even shock. But the scathing remarks and blatant rudeness they could have done without. And god, Sarah... Zac hid his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Lee. I should have mentioned it."



"Would it have made it better?"



"No." Then, his mother would not have allowed him to come to the wedding at all. As it was, he was surprised they had still been allowed inside the church for the ceremony. Zac suspected Vanessa or Denis was largely responsible there.



"So don't worry about it. It's all pretend, right?" The faintest impression of fingertips ghosted along his back, soothing him somewhat. He allowed himself to relax slightly, but only slightly. Sarah had not found them yet, and it would not do for him to be completely off his guard.



Especially considering her reaction the previous day... Zac sent another dark glare at the stand of trees.



"Let it go, Zac. It's not worth dwelling on."



"You and I might be pretend, Lee, but what they said wasn't. And there was no call for any of it." The hand at his back became a firmer impression, running casually up and down. "I cannot believe-."



"Zachariah Phaeton! What are you doing hiding all the way back here?!" Zac was very suddenly engulfed in a see of frost white lace as his cousin charged him and caught him up in a fierce hug.



He sputtered and gasped, but he returned it all the same. "Nessie."



Vanessa eventually let him breath again, pulling back to examine him at arms length, a huge smile brightening her face, ringlets just bouncing. "Wow. Just... look at you!" He pretended to be annoyed when she started fussing with his suit-straightening his tie, messing with the lapels, brushing his hair from his face. She cooed over that, tugging on the longer locks, giggling almost girlishly at the way they twisted and tangled around her fingers. "Your curls could put my little do to shame." She shook her head, making the tight bundle of ringlets bounce. "I'm surprised your mother hasn't made you cut it."



"She wanted to, I think. But then she got... distracted." Zac tilted his head to indicate Lee standing just to his right.



Vanessa's gaze followed the movement, and, if it were possible, her face brightened even more when it landed on Lee. "Oh! I'm so sorry; I didn't see you there. You must be Leslie." She released Zac's curls and extended her hand to shake Lee's.



Lee smiled, that patiently indulgent one he used whenever someone used his full name. "Lee. Manning."



"Lee. Vanessa Camb-No!" She looked at Zac, bright eyes and an excited smile, "/Lambert/." She turned back to Lee. "Pleasure to meet you. Goodness! I think Aunt Merry mentioned everything except how pretty you are."



Zac sputtered and jerked. "Mom's talking about him? It's not enough she and that psycho embarrassed him to his face, now she's got to do it behind his back." His good humor faded just as quickly as it had come, and he cast another glare at the stand of trees. He was having a serious talk with his mother as soon as all this was over.



The hand that had previously been resting gently, though firmly at the small of his back moved, curling around his waist and pulling him into Lee's side. "I told you to stop worrying about it, Zac. Words can only do so much damage."



"I don't care. She's my mother, you're my date, and I will be damned if I let her-"



There was sharp tug on his hair, and he turned a mock-glare on his cousin. Vanessa smiled almost wistfully at him and winked. "He's right you know. And just you wait. Once all the celebrations are over and all the listeners gone, I'll send Denis after her..."



Zac started shaking his head frantically. "No. You cannot do that to Denis." Lord, it had been three years before anyone could finally get his mother to talk to him again. And longer still to get her to meet Sean. He could only imagine what putting Denis in the middle of this would do. And this wasn't even real. Oh... what a mess.



Vanessa smiled smugly. "Yes, I can. And he'll set her straight, too. So drop it; I won't hear any more on this." She nodded her head resolutely and gathered up her skirts, careless grin in full force. "Now come on. I have to find my vagrant husband for the next dance, and I expect to see you two out there, too." She gave them both a chiding look. "No more hiding."



Zac gave her a dry look. "No more tourists to harass, so you have to take on family?" He turned to Lee, "She's the Loch Ness Monster, you know."



"Scamp. Now I mean it. Dance floor. And no sulking."



Zac gave her a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am."



"Exactly." She started to turn, but stopped again. Dashing back to Zac, she grabbed both his hands and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I like the ring," she whispered in his ear. Then she was off, ringlets flying, skirts swishing and bouncing with every move.



Zac blinked at the empty space that had contained his whirlwind cousin. "I... can't make anything easy, can I?" Zac shook his head and turned to face Lee. "My cousin-who, I might mention spent almost three years fighting a similar battle with my mother-is coming to bat for me. And this isn't even real."



"It's real for the moment, Zac. You said it yourself. Even if it will just end tomorrow morning, it's real for them now. And so then are your mother's feelings and your cousins' concerns."



"So I should let it go?"



"Let it go, let them go, and come dance with me." Lee smiled, another one of those tilted ones that made him look charmingly boyish. "We don't want to disappoint the Monster."



"No, we certainly don't." Zac shuddered. "She can be scary when she's riled." He stepped away from the arm still wrapped around his waist and started to walk away, but Lee stopped him.



"Not so fast." He grabbed one of Zac's hands, folding it into his hooked elbow. "You're mine for the night, and I intend to let everyone know." He gave Zac a meaningful stare, green-gold eyes intent, behind dusty, wheat-blond hair. "No matter what they say." It occurred to Zac, then that Vanessa was right-Lee was pretty.



He had a thought, then. That maybe, come tomorrow night, Lee might still be wearing his ring. That maybe, in time, the ring would come belong to Lee. Not be merely something borrowed.